Mayflower Priorities

Last night Zander and I sat down at the kitchen table to work on his homework. Inside his homework folder was a white sheet of paper with large black circle on it. His instructions from his teacher were to draw and label inside the circle the three things that he would bring with him on the Mayflower if he were a pilgrim. He asked me what he should bring. I told him that he should choose the most important things, things he would miss if he didn't have them on the Mayflower. He still seemed a little confused so I told him that maybe he'd want his toys, like his Legos, on the ship so he could play with them.

The light clicked on and I left him to his work. I must say that I purposely didn't mention family or friends or anything that I might consider important to bring because I wanted this project to be authentic to my five-year old boy. I walked away wondering what two other toys he might choose to bring. Fifteen minutes later he called me back to show me his masterpiece . . .



He had chosen Legos, food, and his family. He told me that he wanted to play with Legos and that he had to have food on the boat to ya know *shrug* eat and that he needed his family because he would miss us too much if we didn't come. I think I must be a little hormonal emotional because I just welled right up with tears in my eyes.




I don't know exactly why but I just felt so loved in that small moment. Fiercely loved by my little one and he didn't want to leave me behind. I also felt proud. Proud that maybe some of the things John and I feel are so important to teach our children are actually being taught and retained.



There is a sign above my front door that says - FAMILY: forever, for always, and no matter what. It's about priorities. About making our family our number one priority. I guess I just think it's darn cool that at such a tender age my little guy has got his priorities in pretty good order.